Search form

County Assistant Claims Harassment

A legal complaint filed on Monday in Dukes County Superior Court
alleges that Carol Borer, former county manager, threatened to kill
Marsha Smolev, executive assistant, after Ms. Smolev inadvertently
knocked her foot against Ms. Borer's desk.

Ms. Smolev is seeking damages for emotional distress, defamation,
assault and battery and civil rights violations from Mrs. Borer and her
husband, Steven. She alleges that Mrs. Borer displayed a pattern of
harassment against her.

Mr. Borer is alleged to have participated in the harassment by
sending Ms. Smolev a vulgar and abusive e-mail message.

On Wednesday, a superior court judge allowed Ms. Smolev's
attorneys to place a $100,000 lien on the Borers' home in Tisbury.
James Rogers, Ms. Smolev's attorney, had requested permission to
attach the home for up to $350,000. The Borers recently put the
residence up for sale.

Yesterday, Mr. Rogers said Ms. Smolev was considering whether to
file a legal action against the county as well. He said he was in
discussions with Michael Gilman, the county's attorney, and that
it would be premature to comment on the specifics of a future legal
action against the county.

In a Jan. 12 letter to Michael Gilman, the county's attorney,
Mr. Rogers said that Ms. Smolev had also suffered harassment at the
hands of other county employees. The letter alleges "sexually
harassing conduct by a current county commissioner,"
"unwarranted defamatory public allegations by a current county
commissioner regarding her mental and emotional state" and
"misconduct by current and former employees of the county during
their employment with the County of Dukes County."

In Ms. Smolev's complaint, Mr. Rogers describes a pattern of
harassment against Ms. Smolev while she worked for Mrs. Borer, former
county manager.

The complaint further alleges: "On divers occasions, Borer
asked Smolev to conduct menial tasks not included in her job
description, many of which were in the presence of her peers. One
example, among many, occurred on or about, May 7, 2002, when Borer
demanded that Smolev carry three large cartons of light bulbs from the
basement."

The complaint claims that Ms. Borer harmed Ms. Smolev's
reputation by asserting that Ms. Smolev computed the numbers for Ms.
Borer's vacation and sick day buy-back package, which was later
determined to be incorrect. Paragraph 16 reads:

"On or about Dec. 19, 2002, Borer, when questioned about her
‘buy back' figures, knowingly misrepresented to the
financial advisory board that Smolev kept Borer's records and that
Smolev calculated the monies owed to Borer under the ‘buy
back' records."

An investigation by two county commissioners concluded that $4,874
of an approximately $22,000 in severance pay to Ms. Borer was improperly
paid. The county has asked Ms. Borer to return the $4,874 which
represents 16 vacation days. At the county commission's weekly
meeting Wednesday night, Dianne Powers, acting county manager, informed
the commissioners that Mrs. Borer had rejected the county's
request for a return of funds.

Mrs. Borer's severance payment was made pursuant to her formal
resignation from the county at the end of the year. Mrs. Borer had
agreed in November to continue on as temporary county manager, but
abruptly cleaned out her office following the finance advisory
board's refusal to approve her severance package.

Ms. Smolev has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the
county's investigation into her claims of improper behavior on the
part of some of its employees and officers.

"Marsha absolutely wants her job back. She is the victim in
this situation. She is the one who should be back at work," said
Mr. Rogers.